Preparing Future Librarians to Effectively Serve Their Communities

Abstract

The field of library and information science (LIS) continues to struggle with the issue of diversity and inclusion. As we are perpetually working to increase racial and gender diversity in the profession, the definition of diversity continues to broaden to include socioeconomic status, education, language, literacy, age, sexual orientation, ability, geography, and much more. It is disheartening that the composition of our profession does not reflect the diverse patrons and communities that we serve. In preparing the next generation of librarians, LIS programs need to be able to groom culturally competent librarians who can serve these broadening communities. In this article, we urge LIS programs to develop the audacity and desire to experiment with their programs and saturate LIS education with elements of diversity and inclusion. We call for more dialogue in the form of symposia, panels, and discussions that will transform our LIS programs to be relevant to our communities.